The effort to build more PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors reached two essential suppliers in autumn 2026: the company that makes the missile’s seeker and the company that makes its propulsion systems.
Boeing announced an approximately $14.7 billion award from prime contractor Lockheed Martin on October 5. The seven-year action supported a plan to triple seeker production. L3Harris had announced a separate $4.7 billion, seven-year propulsion award from Lockheed Martin on September 8.
The seeker identifies and tracks the target so the interceptor can engage it. L3Harris’s work covers the two-pulse solid rocket motor and other propulsion components. Both must reach the assembly line in sufficient quantities for production of complete missiles to rise.
Boeing said it had begun increasing production and hiring after an earlier framework agreement. It expected the October award to support hundreds of direct and indirect jobs around Huntsville, Alabama. That was an employment forecast, not a count of positions already filled.
Both companies described the awards as undefinitized. Under federal defense acquisition terminology, that means performance can begin before all relevant terms, specifications or price have been agreed. The awards give suppliers a commitment on which to start work while negotiations continue.
The announced values cover components within the same missile program. Adding them to a prime contract for complete interceptors would risk counting the same supply-chain work twice.
L3Harris identified a physical expansion behind its award: two PAC-3 MSE facilities at Camden, Arkansas, where it broke ground in June. The company expected them to begin operating in 2027.
Sources
- Boeing receives seven-year contract to accelerate PAC-3 MSE seeker output — Boeing · 2026-10-05.
- L3Harris Receives Landmark PAC-3 MSE Propulsion Contract to Power America’s Arsenal of Freedom — L3Harris · 2026-09-08.
- DFARS Subpart 217.74 — Undefinitized Contract Actions — Acquisition.gov.